System in Hollywood

At this moment, the vice president from Disney suddenly asked, "I've heard that the film *The Bourne Identity* starring Mr. Wayne is nearing completion, and that Hemera Films is planning to handle the distribution itself, right?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the previously enthusiastic crowd's expressions subtly changed. First, they glanced quickly at the Disney vice president, then all turned their gaze to Wayne.

If Wayne were only selling rights and continuing to focus solely on production, he'd be a very important partner to them. But if Wayne was also planning to get involved in distribution, he'd become a competitor.

Although it wasn't a secret that Hemera Films had set up a distribution department—it was something these top-tier distribution companies had long been aware of—everyone was curious to hear directly from Wayne about his intentions and ambitions.

"To be precise, it's just the North American distribution," Wayne said with a calm expression, smiling as he looked around. "I had no choice in this. The production cost of *The Bourne Identity* reached $65 million. It took me more than six months from inception to completion. If I were to sell the rights outright, the price couldn't be lower than $130 million, right? At that price, I seriously doubt any distribution company would be willing to take the risk."

Wayne exaggerated *The Bourne Identity*'s production costs slightly.

As expected, those around him reacted with a change in expression after hearing this, and several couldn't help but frown.

In terms of price alone, $130 million was indeed too high. Even the Big Seven studios couldn't take on such a huge risk. Aside from sequels to major blockbuster franchises, even the Big Seven would rarely take on films with budgets of $50 to $60 million alone—they'd usually share the risk.

But in terms of return on investment, a 100% return rate wasn't considered very high.

Wayne continued, "So here's my plan: Hemera Films' distribution department will only handle the North American release for its own big productions. As for overseas distribution, we'll still sell the rights to your companies. This way, once the film is released in North America and you can see the box office numbers, the risk of purchasing it will be much smaller."

Wayne laid out his plan openly.

This model left the crowd momentarily stunned, but their expressions soon softened.

In fact, the model Wayne proposed wasn't new. Many foreign films, when seeking release in North America or globally, followed this approach. For instance, Zhang Yimou's *Hero*—after its initial release in China, the overseas distribution was entirely handled by selling the rights.

Some independent films, overlooked by the Big Seven, even had to break up their rights into dozens of pieces, selling to different distributors in each country or region.

However, this model was rare for North American films, mainly because Hollywood's distribution companies were too dominant.

Take Miramax, for example. If they wanted to buy the rights to *Gifted*, they wouldn't just buy North American or overseas rights—they'd want everything.

The Big Seven operated the same way.

But when dealing with Hemera Films, they couldn't be as forceful.

Firstly, Hemera Films' financial situation was quite strong. Though still a medium-sized production company, its finances were exceptionally robust.

They didn't know Hemera Films' exact situation but had to analyze and speculate based on its performance. 

Hemera Films was able to independently produce *The Bourne Identity*, *Resident Evil 1 & 2*, and *The Dark Side*, and was about to start *Taken* and *Mean Girls*. Its finances seemed even stronger than Miramax and Lionsgate, possibly comparable to DreamWorks.

Moreover, purchasing a high-budget film like *The Bourne Identity* outright was too risky.

Wayne wasn't going to sell it at a loss—not even for a low return. If they spent over $100 million to acquire it and then had to invest millions more in global distribution, how many hundreds of millions in box office revenue would it take just to break even? So Wayne's plan actually benefitted both sides.

Though they would earn less, gaining only overseas box office revenue, their risks would also be significantly reduced.

As for trying to make profits through some tricks while only handling distribution, they might have considered that—but Wayne clearly wasn't giving them the chance.

Everyone in the industry knew how they'd trap outside capital and Wall Street. They even did it to their own.

From Wayne's first film, given how well-funded he was and how he wasn't in a rush to recoup investments, the fact that he only sold rights was clearly a move to guard against them.

"Additionally, Hemera Films has no plans to enter the DVD sales and rental business, so those rights will also be sold to you."

Upon hearing this, the vice presidents' faces brightened even more.

After all, over 80% of Hollywood's theatrical releases each year made their profits in the DVD market. The revenue from this was no small sum.

"That's a smart move!" a vice president from Universal said with a grin.

The others nodded in agreement, offering Wayne more compliments.

This win-win solution was clearly beneficial to both sides. As for whether Wayne would later expand his ambitions to overseas distribution—well, they didn't take the "Big Seven" title lightly.

DreamWorks was much stronger than Hemera Films in every way, but the Big Seven had still managed to suppress them. Some DreamWorks films couldn't even hold onto their North American distribution rights.

If Wayne got too ambitious, he shouldn't be surprised if they teamed up to push him down.

Wayne maintained a humble smile as he scanned the room, but inside, he was smirking.

With a rebirth and such good fortune, if they managed to block him, he might as well find a piece of tofu and smash his head against it.

As for the DVD market, he truly wasn't planning to enter it. That market would soon shrink to the point of near extinction.

Rather than spending large sums to develop that business, he'd rather invest in Apple, Google, and NVIDIA—companies that would skyrocket in the near future.

Thanks to the dot-com bubble, the stock prices of these future tech giants were practically being given away.

(End of Chapter)